Reforming our lives to God’s Word starts with the Great Co-Mission

Grace and peace to you as let the work of the Holy Trinity Reform your lives to God’s Word, in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This Pentecost season I encourage each you to let the Holy Trinity reform your lives to God’s Word and it begins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The reformation of our lives began when we were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It was from the waters of the womb that we were born into this word as sinful men and women loss in the darkness of our sins. It was with the waters of Baptism and God’s Word that we were reborn by the Great Mission of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be a child of God to be reformed into the image of God as we were first created in the beginning, as we read in Genesis 1:26 – 27. ‘Then God said,“Let us make man in our image,after our likeness. Andlet them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.’

The Great Mission of the Triune God from the beginning of time has been to have all of mankind live in the Image of God’s Love, Peace and Joy for all eternity. It began as we read in the first chapter of Genesis with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit creating a perfect world for us to live in. But as we also learned from the second chapter of Genesis that perfect world and life has been corrupted by the sins of man in this world. Yes, sin brought death and destruction of God’s love, peace and joy, but that hasn’t changed the mission of the Triune God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for with the first sin came also the first promise of God to reform the world through work of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit on our lives.

God the Father didn’t seek to carry out His mission to save the world from death and destruction by the sheer force and power of His divine will. No, instead God the Father prepared the way for the Great Mission of God’s love, peace and joy be given to us. The unified mission of the Triune God was to have the Father sent His Only Son, Jesus Christ to willing fulfilled the reformation of all of mankind by remaining obedient to His Fathers will in every way and then taking upon Himself all the sins of the world and paying the debt that we owed by giving His life in His death on the cross of Calvary and then He risen again in the first resurrection so that we could once again live in the love, peace and joy of God now and for all eternity. Yes, the Son of God comes to fulfill the Great Mission of God so that we can live in God’s love, peace and joy for all eternity.

At the end of Jesus mission here on this earth we are told, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw Him they worshiped Him, but some doubted.” (Mt. 28:16-17)

We live in a world of doubts about the mission of God in this world, just as much as the disciples of Jesus’ time doubted the mission of Jesus so at times we find ourselves doubting the mission of God in our lives. There are those who doubt that God is the creator and maintainer of this world that is filled with death and destruction. There are those who doubt that God loves us and wants us to live with Him in perfect love, peace and joy for all eternity. There are those who doubt that God has taken care of sin and death in this world by the life, death and resurrection of His Only Son, Jesus Christ. There is doubt that God is working in this world to reform us to His love, peace and joy. But in the midst of all the doubt in this world Jesus comes to us and says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Mt. 28:18)

When Jesus created the heavens and the earth with the Father and the Holy Spirit He was the Word that brought about all of creation, as the Apostle John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (Jn. 1:1-5) When Jesus came into this world to fulfill what we had destroyed and couldn’t fix, He showed His authority over all of heaven and earth, sin and death so that we could once again live in God’s love, peace and joy. Then He gave us a share in the mission of God as He says to us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:19-20)

God has made us a part of His Great Co-Mission. The Great Co-Mission of God is to bring all the world to God’s love, peace and joy. God’s mission in the world hasn’t changed. From the moment that we destroyed the perfect relationship with God, He has been working with mankind to reform that relationship back to the perfect Love, peace and joy that He first gave to us. God is our Great Co-Mission partners. For just as the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit were on a mission in Creation, so also the Father and the Holy Spirit were on a mission to send His Son to willing do His part of redeeming us of all our sins, so that now the Father and the Son could then send the Holy Spirit on the great Mission of reforming our lives with God Word to live in His perfect love, peace and joy that Jesus Christ has won for us. Oh, the Holy Spirit has always been a part of all the mission of God as He was active in creation, as He worked in the prophets of the Old Testament to proclaim God’s Word, as He manifest Himself at the baptism of Jesus and dwelled with Jesus until He hung on the Cross of Calvary with all our sins. Today the Holy Spirit comes to dwell with us as the empowering force of God to continue to do the work of the Great Co-mission, the Mission of God that He is doing in us and through us.

You see when Jesus tells us to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” He’s not telling us to go by ourselves but with the Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us in God’s Word, just like He did with the prophet of Old Testament, just like He did with the disciples of Jesus’ time and just like He has done with all the Saint of the past. We have seen the Triune God working in the lives of other believers as they shared God’s love, peace and joy with us. The Triune God is our Co-Mission partner as we live in this world that God has given us to live in for now. The Holy Spirit is the one that will enable us to show the love, peace and joy of God that we were given as He brought us to faith through God’s Word and Sacraments. The Holy Spirit is the one who will give us the right thing to say as we share God’s Word and love with others. The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to come to faith through God’s Word and Sacraments, to remain in our faith through God’s Word and Sacraments and to share our faith and God’s love, peace and joy by our words, actions and lives to others.

As Co-Missionary with God we have more to do then go out and share the Love, peace and joy of God with the world. Jesus tells us to also “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism is the rebirth that we all need to receive as Jesus tells us in the gospel of John, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (Jn. 3:3) So as we work as Co-Missionaries with God through the work of the Triune God we bring others to be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, so that God can start the reformation of their lives to the love, peace and joy that God wants them to have.

That brings us to the third task that Jesus ask us to do as co-missionary here in this world with the help of the Holy Spirit, “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Teaching God’s Word brings knowledge of trinity of God. Teaching God’s Word brings understanding about how the Triune God is working in our lives. Teaching God’s Word gives the Triune God the ability to work in our lives so that through God’s Word the Holy Spirit can bring faith in the Triune God and to continue and keep us in the love, peace and joy that He wants them to have.

Now what is interesting about these three tasks that God give us to do in this world is that though we are the feet, hands and mouth that goes and share God’s Love, peace and Joy to all nation it is the Triune God who guide, directs and gives us that opportunities. Though it is each of us who brings others to be baptized it is the Triune God who does the work of washing them of their sins and giving them the Holy Spirit to come to faith. Though it is each of us that share the Word of God with others it is the Triune God who reforms their lives so that they can live in the love, peace and joy that only the Triune God can give to them. Yes, we are Co-Missionaries of God’s Mission, the Great commission of bringing God’s Love, peace and joy to all the world.

The Great Commission, is a task that is shared by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit with us so that the Mission of God can be accomplish and we all can come to know the great love, peace and joy that God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit wants to give to us now and for all eternity. It is a Co-Mission that the Triune God started with man when he destroyed the perfect life that was given to him at creation and it is the reformation that needs to continue in each of our lives until God take us to live with Him for the rest of eternity in our heavenly Home. Yes, I encourage each of you today to let the Triune God work in your life to be a part of the Great Co-Mission of the world that God wants us to live in now and for all eternity. Amen.